1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, particularly to a technique with which switching between operating systems occurs while processing is performed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique is disclosed with which switching between operating systems occurs while processing is performed, in the case where an apparatus has more than one operating system.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that, in an apparatus having more than one operating system, the kernel of each of the operating systems is resident in the primary storage, and it is therefore possible to speed up the process of switching between the operating systems. Further, since the state of the operating system when the switching is performed is stored into the secondary storage, it is possible to perform the process continuing from the state prior to the switching when the process returns to the previous operating system.
According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, however, the information owned by each operating system is not necessarily protected from other operating systems. There is possibility that operation of an operating system may impede operation of another operating system or may destruct information owned by another operating system.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 64-4838    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-216172    Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 60-97440    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 58-181149    Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-133533    Patent Document 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-28497    Patent Document 7: Japanese Patent Publication No. 3018336    Patent Document 8: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2788590